(CNN) - Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys, aircraft that take off vertically, provided a dramatic new look for President Barack Obama's travel detail as he and the first lady began a Martha's Vineyard vacation on Saturday.

The Ospreys - making their presidential debut - shuttled White House staff, media and Secret Service members from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod.

Washington (CNN) – Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, said Sunday he's looking into suing the federal government in the wake of what has been a tumultuous week for the Obama administration and National Security Agency.

"I'm going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level. I'm going to be asking the Internet providers and all of the phone companies; ask your customers to join me in a class-action lawsuit," Paul said on FOX News Sunday.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, said Sunday he doesn't think the United States fits into a left-right paradigm - and he has some ideas on how to make the Republican Party more appealing to voters.

"I think the Republican Party needs to find out how to be bigger, and I think I do bring some ideas to that. So I've talked to the Republican National Committee, the Republican National Committee chairman about things I think we need to do to be competitive," Paul said on "Fox News Sunday."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama attended the Gridiron Club and Foundation’s annual dinner in Washington Saturday night, even cracking a joke on forced budget cuts along the way.

The annual event brings together politicians and Washington’s media elite. Because there’s limited press access, presidents who attend usually act a little looser than when the camera light is on.FULL POST

(CNN) - Lawmakers from both parties and both chambers of Congress agreed Sunday that if sequestration budget cuts go into effect next month, there will be a negative impact on the economy and the country as a whole.

In separate appearances on NBC's "Meet The Press," Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, both said they don't want the sequester cuts to take place. They suggested different ways to deal with the series of automatic, across-the-board spending cuts, spread out over the next decade, which are set to kick in on March 1.FULL POST

(CNN) – Former GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan said Sunday that President Barack Obama doesn't appreciate the seriousness of the nation's economic situation. "I don't think that the president actually thinks we're having a fiscal crisis," Ryan said.

Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," his first live national television interview since last year's election, Ryan shared his thoughts on the nation's fiscal health and whether he'll run for president in 2016.FULL POST

(CNN) – "Practice makes perfect," or so the saying goes, and it was practice time in Washington on Sunday, one week ahead of Inauguration Day.

Hundreds of band members, military personnel, media and law enforcement took part in an exercise to rehearse both the swearing-in ceremony and the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, scheduled to take place a week from Monday, helping to make sure they get the real thing right.FULL POST

(CNN) – Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he's still a member of the Republican Party, despite voting for President Barack Obama in the last two elections and being very critical of the GOP of late.

"I think the Republican Party right now is having an identity problem - and I'm still a Republican," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "But in recent years there's been a significant shift to the right, and we've seen what that shift has produced: two losing presidential campaigns."FULL POST

(CNN) – When President Barack Obama nominated former Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense last week, criticism came in swiftly from several Republicans. But there's one member of the GOP who couldn't be more supportive of Hagel, and that's former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

For starters, Powell said Sunday that Hagel would be an excellent fit for defense secretary because of his military service in Vietnam, where Hagel was wounded twice.FULL POST

(CNN) – Republican lawmakers said Sunday they believe President Barack Obama wants the country to fall off the fiscal cliff for political purposes.

“I think he sees a political victory at the bottom of the cliff. He gets all this additional tax revenue for new programs. He gets to cut the military, which Democrats have been calling for for years and he gets to blame Republicans for it,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said on “Fox News Sunday.”FULL POST